The AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) is a unified command-line tool for managing Amazon Web Services from your terminal. Instead of clicking through multiple console pages, you can create, configure, and delete AWS resources using simple text commands that can be scripted, automated, and version-controlled. The CLI v2 — the current major version — supports over 200 AWS services and provides both high-level convenience commands (like aws s3 sync and aws ddb put) and low-level API access for precise control. CLI v1 enters maintenance mode in July 2026; migrating to v2 is strongly recommended.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers
This topic spans 32 focused tables and 261 indexed concepts. Below is a complete table-by-table outline of this topic, spanning foundational concepts through advanced details.
Table 1: Installation and Setup
| Method | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
aws configure | • Interactive setup for access key ID, secret access key, default region, and output format • stores in ~/.aws/credentials and ~/.aws/config. | |
aws --version | • Displays the installed version (e.g., aws-cli/2.34.0)• confirms installation success. | |
aws configure --profile dev | • Creates a separate profile for different accounts or roles • use --profile dev in commands to switch context. | |
aws configure sso | • Sets up IAM Identity Center authentication • modern replacement for long-term access keys in multi-account environments. | |
aws configure list-profiles | • Prints all named profile names from config files • v2-only command. | |
aws configure import --csv file://credentials.csv | • Imports credentials from a console-generated CSV file • creates named profiles matching IAM user names • v2-only. |